2018 Officers

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Eva Parkhurst is the UCF HFES Student Chapter President. In addition to her work on aging and robotics, she is also an expert in the care and raising of gray cats.

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Alexandra “Xan” Kaplan is the Vice President.  Her interests include human robot interaction, climbing, and even more sporadically updating the HFES student chapter website.

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Valarie Yerdon is the Secretary for the HFES UCF student chapter. She is a Human Factors and Cognitive Psych doctoral student, who shares her time between the MIT^2 and Prodigy Lab. When she is not tracking eyes for deception and trust, her cybersecurity extends walking her beloved beasts of burden and frequent headstand meditations.  

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Grace Waldfogle is the Treasurer of the UCF HFES Student Chapter. Her research interests include training for vigilance as well as how individual differences contribute to variations in performance. When she is not working in the lab or studying, you can find Grace laying on the nearest couch binge watching Netflix and eating unhealthy amounts of zoodles (zucchini noodles).

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Natalie Paquette is the social chair of the student chapter. She is a cognitive neuroscience junkie and usability enthusiast. She spends her free time clinging to the side of cliffs or playing with the brain.

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Katy Odette is the Historian. When she isn’t working in the lab using totally high-tech VR technology, playing Legend of Zelda, or having an existential crisis, she is busy getting awarded for side-projects involving her cute little robot companion, Cozmo.

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Ecem Olcum is the Webmaster of the UCF HFES Student Chapter. She is interested in game-based learning, gamification, and instructional design. When she is not studying, she watches Friends over and over again.